1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to dental implants and, more particularly, to a structure and a method for supporting temporary protheses.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
When a tooth or teeth are missing, the installation of an implant into a human jaw bone is quite common to replace the missing tooth for chewing and/or cosmetic reasons. The implant is typically a metal "fixture" inserted into the jaw bone, where the missing tooth or teeth are, to form a substitute "root" upon which a prosthesis is "loaded" or installed over the fixture, to replace natural teeth. This procedure can be done for a single tooth as well as a whole jaw bone of missing teeth.
A problem with such implants is that the fixture must remain submerged into the bone for a long period of time, typically from four to six months, to allow the fixture to ossio-integrate and become solidly held by the surrounding bone before a prosthesis can be loaded upon the fixture. Thus, during these four to six months, which is the required period for ossio-integration, the patient is essentially toothless.
To overcome this problem, one publication installs a temporary prosthesis with a butterfly system on the lingual side, or the side facing the tongue and adheres the butterflies to the adjacent teeth. Another publication uses a removable bridge instead of the butterfly system to hold the temporary prosthesis in place by also utilizing the adjacent teeth for anchoring. Although these publications have solved the toothless problem during the ossio-integration period by providing the patient with a temporary prosthesis for chewing and cosmetic reasons, these publications also have several disadvantages.
One disadvantage is that the temporary prosthesis has relatively weak stability because the butterfly system or the removable bridge adheres to adjacent teeth for stability. Another disadvantage is that the adjacent teeth are easily damaged by the additional external forces such as chewing that are applied by the temporary prosthesis. Another disadvantage is that the adjacent teeth can be damaged when the dentist removes the temporary prosthesis.